Actions

NYC doctor charged in $10M oxycodone ring

By:
Jeremy Tanner
, Jeremy Tanner

Posted at 9:49 PM, Mar 28, 2013

and last updated2013-03-28 23:02:39-04

A Manhattan doctor and his assistant ran a $10 million oxycodone ring run through a Gramercy medical center, supplying a vast network of dealers involved in two separate operations, according to authorities.

Hector Castro, 51, an internal medicine doctor, and his assistant, office manager Patricia Valera, were arrested and indicted Thursday following an investigation dubbed ‘Cuba Libre’ that led to the arrest of 47 others.

Hector Castro, 51, an internal medicine doctor, and his assistant, office manager Patricia Valera, were arrested and indicted Thursday following an investigation dubbed ‘Cuba Libre’ that led to the arrest of 47 others.

According to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Castro and Valera sold more than 500,000 pills, worth at least $10 million, out of the Itzamna Medical Center at 205 East 16th St.

Patricia Valera went by the name “Kardashian” on the street

Valera, who was known as “Kardashian” on the street, was allegedly dealing on the side — stealing 155 prescription sheets from Castro and his brother. She would then forge the scrips sell them for $500 a sheet — often to two competing prescription drug rings in Pennsylvania.

Valera faces 464 charges from the sales and forgery. Agents arrested Valera and her husband, who is accused of helping her, at their home in the Bronx Tuesday morning. Agents also arrested three of Valera’s regular customers: Euclides Valdez and Ranody Cruz in New York, and Savier Polanco in New Jersey.

According to the investigation, which began in late 2011, Castro was running his own under-the-table business from the Itzamma Medical Center, writing illegal prescriptions to junkies in New York and New Jersey. Authorities believe he pulled down $637,000 in sales.

The investigation began after a Woodbridge, NJ, man died in December 2011 after overdosing on a prescription signed by Castro.

Copyright 2020 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.